Beautiful Mirage
by Heather B. Kytes
Summary: Tenchi is shown the reality of his world.


Disclaimer: I don't own the Tenchi characters; they are copyrighted by AIC and Pioneer.  
  
Anime Series: Tenchi  
Continuity: Doesn't Matter, starts in OAV  
Rating: PG-13 -- mild swearing and some sexual-related stuff  
Notes: This entire fic is hypocritical and most likely stupid. If this fic pisses   
you off, tough. I guess this could be considered a warning. ^_^ Thanks to The   
Entry Plug and Rowsdower for pre-reading this for me.  
  
  
Beautiful Mirage  
By, Heather B. Kytes  
  
Tenchi was dreaming about cats when he felt a hand on his shoulder.  
  
Years of practice had molded his reflexes, and his arm shot out, knocking   
the hand away. "Ryoko, go away," he murmured in a tired, exasperated tone. "Go   
back downstairs."  
  
"Tenchi."  
  
He opened his eyes and immediately turned as red as the blood coming out of   
his nose. Sasami stood at his bedside, only she was different.  
  
Tsunami's gentle eyes stared back at him.  
  
Her clothes had ripped in a few choice places.  
  
He looked away quickly, holding a hand up to his nose to stop the flow of   
blood. "Um, Sasami? Are you...?"  
  
"We are one," Sasami/Tsunami answered gently. From the corner of his eye, he   
could see her adjusting her clothes to cover more flesh. "I wanted you to be the   
first to know, Tenchi."  
  
He recognized Sasami's exuberance in the last comment, and he grinned. "Were   
you ready, Sasami?" he asked, staring down at the bedspread, relieved that the blood was   
finally slowing.  
  
"It doesn't matter," Sasami replied, her tone carrying Tsunami's serenity. "All   
of this, right now, is a dream."  
  
Tenchi wrinkled his brow and chanced a look at the girl, er, woman. She was   
decent... er. "What do you mean?" He wondered about the things she could see now that she   
was merged with a goddess.  
  
"Everything we've ever thought was real was someone's dream," Sasami said,   
sounding almost sad. She looked down at him with a grim line on her face replacing the   
smile. "Everything we do is their words."  
  
"Words," Tenchi muttered, confused. "Did you hit your head, Sasami?"  
  
His words made her smile. "No, Tenchi, we will not get hurt. It is not her will."  
  
"Her will?" Tenchi's confusion deepened. "Who?"  
  
"She that is creating this truth for us. It is complicated indeed." Sasami shook   
her head. "She is letting me see this, I can tell. She is giving me the reality of   
this world."  
  
"What are you trying to say, Sasami?" Tenchi asked, gazing up at her earnestly.   
"I want to understand you."  
  
Sasami's smile was sorrowful. She sighed softly. "Then I will follow her. I   
guess I have no choice in the matter anyway." She stared at the ground, blinking   
several times in succession, as if holding back tears. "I will show you the truth of   
everything, Tenchi, but it will hurt."  
  
"What is everything?" Tenchi questioned.  
  
"This," Sasami said, lifting her head and spreading her arms wide. Her clothes   
returned to their initial state of disarray, but Tenchi was too preoccupied with   
concern to notice. "Existence. Life. Sentience."  
  
"Okay," Tenchi said slowly. He would humor Sasami. "What is it?"  
  
"It's all a beautiful mirage," Sasami murmured, gesturing around them. "A   
beautiful, horrible mirage."  
  
Tenchi's mind was slow in absorbing her words, but he was beginning to understand.   
The change had turned Sasami insane. He felt his throat tighten. "Explain it to me,   
Sasami," he said hesitantly, unsure if this was the correct move. Maybe if he went   
along with it, she would return to normal. Yeah, just like that.  
  
*A beautiful mirage* Tenchi thought, the phrase sticking in his mind for reasons   
unknown. *Beautiful as it is horrible.*  
  
"I will show you," Sasami whispered, a tear rolling down her cheek as she grasped   
Tenchi's hand in hers. "But you will not like it. It might kill you."  
  
Tenchi doubted he was that weak, though seeing her like this was a heavy emotional   
blow. "Please, show me," he said firmly, standing next her.  
  
Sasami nodded. And they were gone.  
  
Blackness all around. Tenchi struggled to adjust his sight to the inky black,   
but to no avail. "Sasami?" he asked, the only indication that she was still there the   
feel of her hand encircling his. He tightened his grip. "Where are we?"  
  
"This is all that is," Sasami said. She traced her thumb over the back of his   
hand. "This blackness. The feel of our hands joined comes from the blackness."  
  
Maybe she was not insane. Maybe she was a goddess. This experience certainly was   
not natural.  
  
*Am I going to understand a word of this, even if she shows me everything?* Tenchi   
wondered doubtfully. "I don't understand." He knew he would be saying that a lot   
throughout this experience.  
  
"The human soul. The alien soul. The soul of a tree. The soul of a killer.   
All of it resides here, in this blackness. Where they wait."  
  
"Wait for what?" Tenchi asked.  
  
"The words. The dreams," Sasami replied quietly.  
  
"I don't--" he began.  
  
"Of the creator," Sasami cut in. "The creator takes the dreams and places the   
words into sentences, into paragraphs, into stories. The stories, Tenchi, they are   
the reality. They paint the pictures that we see. They..."  
  
Tenchi looked into the nothingness around him. "Wait. I don't see any souls.   
Why are they black? Why is this place empty?"  
  
"We are all empty until we are filled with the creator's words," Sasami said   
gently. He heard a smile in her voice. "We are but clay to be molded."  
  
*She can't expect me to buy this. She can't be serious. But...* He looked around   
him again. *...then where are we, and how did we get here? Is this an illusion? A   
mirage, like she said?*  
  
"We think that we make choices, but it is their will that guides us. I *have* to   
hold your hand until *she* says I can let go. Do you understand, Tenchi?"  
  
"You keep saying 'she'. Are you talking about Tsunami?" Tenchi asked.  
  
"No. She. The creator of this... story." Sasami's voice was thick with sorrow.   
"That's what it is. A story, based on a story. There are dozens of them. Hundreds.   
Maybe even..."  
  
Tenchi coughed. The blackness could have been seeping into his chest, filling his   
lungs with its poison. He did not know why it evoked such strong emotions in him. The   
worst being sorrow. The sorrow of nothing. Nonexistence. "Do we have to stay here?"   
he asked. "I don't like the dark."  
  
"Me neither," Sasami said quietly. "I like the light."  
  
The change was quick enough to make Tenchi's head spin and his eyes burn. He was   
in an unfamiliar bedroom, bright with artificial light. He squinted until his eyes   
adjusted, which took several seconds. Sasami dropped his hand and walked over to a   
large cabinet. The right door was opened, displaying a large videotape collection.  
  
"What are we doing here? Um, where is here?" Tenchi asked, appraising his   
surroundings. The room was clean with a simple layout. The most spectacular thing in   
the room was the posters on the wall, all of which displayed the smiling faces of   
familiar people.  
  
He gasped. "Why are we on the wall?"  
  
"This is a bedroom of one of your fans," Sasami explained, rummaging through   
the videos. She placed one aside and turned to look at him. "He really likes the   
show."  
  
"Show?"  
  
Sasami shook her head. The television turned on, and she slipped the video into   
the VCR. "Watch." Her voice was gentle but commanding. "Remember."  
  
All of a sudden, he and Sasami were on board the Soja. Kagato watched as Tenchi   
struggled to get his foot out of the dimensional gap. Tenchi watched the scene in front   
of him with wondering eyes. He remembered the events from when he had fought Kagato.   
"How can this be?" he asked, his eyes focused on his exact double, his past self. Despite   
the fact that he knew Kagato was going to lose, his heart jumped when the fatal blow   
struck. There had been a moment of doubt when the victor was not clear.  
  
"This is your past," Sasami said matter-of-factly. "To them, it is entertainment."  
  
Tenchi blinked. "Someone was filming my life?"  
  
Sasami raised a quizzical eyebrow. "Someone wrote your life," she corrected, "to   
be entertainment."  
  
"Whose entertainment?" he demanded. He could not believe any of this. He remembered   
everything she was showing him. She had just somehow taken them into his memory.  
  
"To them, this is an animated series. They refer to it as the OAV." She glanced   
sideways at him. "Next to come was the TV series."  
  
Before he could speak, the scene dissipated in front of his eyes, and another appeared.   
He watched as a guy who looked like him stopped to help a girl who looked like Ryoko. She   
was lying on a rock with her eyes closed. The guy poured water into her mouth, and her   
eyes slowly opened.  
  
"I don't remember that," he said, frowning.  
  
"That is because this is a different reality for you," Sasami explained quietly. She   
was watching the scene with unfazed pink eyes, as though none of this was a shock for   
her. "You will only remember their OAV world, because you are that Tenchi."  
  
"So that's me?" Tenchi asked, pointing to the eerie double. "Only like... a 'me'   
in an alternate universe?"  
  
Sasami nodded, smiling slightly. "You are finally beginning to understand. Correct,   
the Tenchi we are seeing is from another reality. But you must understand that it is   
only our reality, not theirs. To them, it is but another animated series. Another form   
of entertainment."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
Sasami lost her smile. "I guess I should not expect you to understand so quickly.   
That is alright. As I was saying, they refer to this reality as the television series.   
There are various differences between it and the OAV."  
  
"The what?"  
  
Sasami sighed. He was trying her infinite patience. "Your reality, Tenchi. Where   
*we* came from. Please try to pay attention."  
  
He nodded. "Sorry Sasami."  
  
"It's okay." She continued her explanation. "There is another series to consider,   
but I do not think we have to talk about it."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because it sucked."  
  
"Oh." He was curious, but chose to stay silent.  
  
"Do you understand now that you are nothing but a creation used for entertainment   
purposes? That everything you ever believed was true was written by someone else? That   
our reality, by default, isn't real at all?"  
  
"But I feel real," Tenchi murmured. "I'm breathing, and my heart is beating."  
  
Sasami chuckled. "Do you want it to stop?"  
  
Tenchi took a step back. "Of course not!"  
  
"Then you would die." Sasami nodded. She leaned forward and whispered, "You always   
knew that death was a certainty, Tenchi. You just never knew how it would come. You know   
now..." her voice grew softer, "...that she is the one with the power to end your life."  
  
Tenchi trembled and pulled further back. "But I don't... want to die."  
  
"I told you we would not get hurt, not now," Sasami replied. "Do you believe me?"  
  
"I don't know what to believe!" Tenchi exclaimed, folding his arms across his chest   
angrily. He glared at her. "All of this is lies. It has to be!"  
  
"The lies are what you believe," Sasami replied. She grabbed his hand once more.   
"You will see."  
  
Tenchi had long passed the point where he cared what Sasami was saying. He wasn't   
buying her story. *I'm mortal. I'm alive. These are just tricks of hers. Tsunami is making   
her do this. She must hate me for some reason. Maybe because of that one dream...*  
  
His thoughts were interrupted at the change of scenery. Back in the bedroom. Sasami   
turned on the computer in the corner. "The videos were just the beginning," she said. "Then   
came the fans, people who watched the show and grew attached to the characters. People   
who were entertained and fascinated by it. Some even wrote stories based on the videos,   
placing the characters in different situations and creating new realities. This is called   
fanfiction, stories written by fans of a particular show."  
  
Tenchi snorted. His mood was still sour. "Who cares?" he asked.  
  
Sasami's face darkened. "You will, when you see the various pictures that have   
been painted for us." She beckoned. "Come."  
  
He had no choice. In the next instant, he was beside her, and on the computer screen   
was a text file.  
  
"What's that?" he asked.  
  
"A fanfic," Sasami answered.  
  
"What, you want me to read it?" he asked.  
  
Sasami shook her head. "I want you to live it." She placed one hand on the screen,   
and the other on his arm.  
  
One second, he had been standing next to Sasami, and in the next, Ayeka and Ryoko   
were crawling all over him, doing most... improper things to every area of his body. It   
did not seem unusual in the slightest, however, and he lay back, enjoying the ride.  
  
It seemed to go on forever, but in the next instant, it was over, and he was back with   
Sasami by the computer.  
  
"What was that?" he asked when he finally found his voice. The shock of actually   
having sex had blown his mind. His body was still tingling from the foreign pleasure.  
  
Sasami looked smug. "A lemon fanfic. Happy?"  
  
He blushed furiously as he realized she knew everything he had experienced.   
"Um... er..." He struggled for a response.  
  
The emotion disappeared from Sasami's face, replaced with an eerie tranquility.   
"Another one," she murmured, repeating the procedure of one hand on the screen and one on   
his arm.  
  
He watched as Ryoko died in front of his eyes, looking at him and mouthing that she   
loved him. He started to cry bitter tears over her corpse. He loved her, too.  
  
Tenchi frowned as he reappeared next to Sasami. "I didn't like that one," he   
said. "It wasn't much fun."  
  
Sasami rolled her eyes. "Not as *exciting* as the first one, huh?" she asked   
pointedly.  
  
He blushed again. "Not really," he mumbled. The sorrow he had felt returned, and   
he looked down. "I loved Ryoko."  
  
Sasami nodded. "That's a popular choice," she said.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Fans seem to want you to pick Ryoko over the other girls. They write about it   
a lot." She wrinkled her nose. "Horrible things, most of those stories. They like to   
trash Ayeka or ignore her completely in some of those."  
  
Tenchi glared. "Who would want to do that? Who *could* do that and still call   
themselves a fan?"  
  
Sasami peered at him. "There's worse." She grabbed for his arm again. "Much   
worse."  
  
He was outside, working in the field, when Sasami walked up to him, smiling   
innocently. She greeted him warmly, informing him that lunch was prepared. He thanked   
her, but his mind was far from thinking about food. All he could think was that   
Sasami looked pretty hot in her dress. He was about to discover that for an eight-year-  
old, she sure could maneuver in a lot of interesting...  
  
"Damn!" Tenchi cursed when he was back. He could scarcely look Sasami in the   
face. He was redder than a sheet and angrier than a bull looking at it. "That was   
wrong! That was horrible! How could someone write that?"  
  
"You enjoyed yourself," Sasami observed.  
  
He exploded. "I did NOT enjoy that act of pedophilia, Sasami! I never thought   
of you that way! It's wrong!"  
  
"Wrong," Sasami said, though not in agreement to his statement. "You never   
*think* of me that way. When you were inside that fic, that reality, you only thought   
what the author wanted you to think. He made you think that way, and he made you enjoy   
it. Don't you see it yet? Whatever that person wants you to be is what you will be.   
The creator will take you out of the empty blackness and fill you with whatever he or   
she desires. They can make you do things you never would have done in your reality. It   
doesn't matter that it isn't right or that you don't like it."  
  
Tenchi was exasperated. "Why not? It should matter that it's not right!"  
  
"It doesn't because it's not real. It's only words, Tenchi."  
  
"You just said that *everything* is words!" Tenchi exclaimed. His anger was   
endless. Her calm demeanor was infuriating. Didn't she care that her younger self had   
just been violated? "If everything is words, then how can it NOT matter?"  
  
Sasami shook her head sadly. "You're right," she said quietly. "But what can   
we do? We cannot stop the flow of words onto paper, into computer. The desire to create   
is too strong. We will have to live what they decide to write for us. We will feel   
what they want us to feel. We will love who they say and die when they wish. We have   
no say in this, Tenchi. We can only wait in the blackness to be filled with light."  
  
"Light?" Tenchi shouted. "You call that trash 'light'? I had sex with a child,   
Sasami. ...YOU, for godsakes! I..." He slumped forward in defeat, the anger draining   
from him. The look on her face said it all. Even his anger was futile.  
  
He wondered for the first time who was writing *this* story...  
  
...and how it would end.  
  
"It's not all bad," Sasami whispered, sounding like herself. The parts of Tsunami   
he had seen in her were gone, and she was just a scared little girl inside a woman's   
body. "I can see a lot of stories out there that are... nice. Written by... nice   
people." She gazed at the floor.  
  
"But what about the people writing it?" he asked. "How do we know that *they*   
are real? Maybe they're characters, just like us."  
  
"Maybe," Sasami said, shaking her head. She straightened and regained her   
composure. "That holds no bearing on us. We can only live through them." Her eyes   
were shining as she held his arm one last time. She was smiling brightly. "Sometimes   
it's beautiful." She placed her other hand on the computer screen, and he was gone.  
  
He lived a thousand lives, each different than the last. He knew he was living   
through the alternate realities, the different stories. He knew Sasami was only letting   
him see the beautiful ones. Sometimes he laughed, sometimes he cried. Sometimes he   
lived happily ever after, sometimes he died in terrible ways. Sometimes he was given   
everything he desired, sometimes he was left with nothing but sorrow. Occasionally, he   
found a tale with no ending, and a part of him would feel saddened at the lack of   
closure. Sometimes the world dragged on, sometimes it flew by too quickly. All this   
he knew in the instant he was back by Sasami's side, looking at her face with wonder.  
  
She had been right. They had all been so beautiful.  
  
Maybe the beauty could outlast the decay.  
  
"All of that was... my lives?" he asked finally.  
  
"Our lives. Our light." She touched a warm hand to his forehead. "Maybe we   
will remember when we go back to the darkness."  
  
Tenchi stiffened, his joy waning. He had forgotten that this was a story as well.   
He began to worry, looking to Sasami for comfort. There was no comfort in her pink   
eyes, only grim acceptance of their fate. "Have you finished showing me the truth?"  
  
Sasami stared back at him evenly, removing her hand from his head. "I showed you   
the truth long ago. It is only now that you have come to accept it."  
  
"I'm not dead," Tenchi murmured, covering his mouth with his hand. "You said the   
truth might kill me."  
  
"It was not in her plan," Sasami said.  
  
"A girl is writing this," Tenchi murmured. A question came to mind. "Can I see   
her?"  
  
Sasami shook her head. "I don't think so."  
  
"Oh," Tenchi said, accepting the response. He sighed, his anxiety worsening. The   
fear was growing as he delved deeper into his newfound revelations. *I'm just a pawn of   
this writer. Of any writer. They can make me do anything. I could die right now in the   
most horrible way and suffer so much. I could be forced to go through every torture   
known to mankind... and maybe some new ones. I'm... scared.* He shivered. "So all   
this comes to is... that I have no control over any of this? Everything I do here is   
someone else's will? Everything I feel is given to me by some writer?"  
  
"Is it so bad?" Sasami questioned. "You have seen all of the wonderful things   
that come from the blackness. These fics and videos are more than scripts to control   
you. They touch people. They change people. They make people happy." A tear shone   
in the corner of her eye. "We make people happy. I feel... good to know that I cause   
people joy. Like I said before, Tenchi, we are nothing but a beautiful mirage," she   
said quietly. "Beautiful as we are horrible."  
  
"I don't understand!" Tenchi exclaimed, the fear taking him over completely. He   
knelt in front of her. "Wha- what happens when they stop writing, Sasami? When *she*   
stops writing?" he asked in a shaky voice. "What happens when the story is over?"  
  
She smiled and spoke gently, "The end." 


End file.
